The Golden Rule part 5
The difference between being Christ-centered and being self-centered... is people. Being Christ-centered means being people-centered. Jesus said, ""And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'"" (Matthew 25:40 NLT). How we treat people is how we treat God. Because God lives in people. Putting others first. Laying your life down for your friends. Giving what you've got without worrying about getting. Esteeming others higher than yourself. These are the building blocks that a life of service--a life of love--is built upon. But, man oh man, does that ever take repentance. A mindset shift. Seeing things differently in light of something that has happened. The thing that happened was the cross. And the thing we can see differently... is everything. Either the cross changed everything, or it didn't change anything. It litearally changed us from having to try to earn our bread by the sweat of our brow... to Jesus sweating great drops of blood. His blood redeemed us from that curse. Or that cursed dimension. Brought us out of death an into life. Brought us out of darkness and into light. Now we can see things clearly. We can see things as they really are. We can see the light, and we can see that we ARE the light. We can relate to each other in a more excellent way, because we can relate to God in a more excellent way. Instead of trying to get, or earn, His love... we can simply receive it and release it. Look at Matthew 10:8 (NLT), "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Five as freely as you have received!" The idea of receiving and releasing is so important. Especially Biblically, or Spiritually. We love, because He first loved us. We love HIM because He first loved us. We love Him BY loving each other. Love is giving. First God gave us something--His love--now we can give it back to Him by giving it to the people we come across in our lives. Receiving and releasing. Freely you have been given... freely give. Don't be stingy with your love. Be generous. Be carefree. Let what's inside come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. By filling yourself to overflowing with what you've been filled with. BE transformed, into what you've already BEEN transformed into, by loving people. By treating others the way you want to be treated. Not scratching their back in the hopes they will scratch yours, but simply thinking "Man, if I was itchy, I sure would want someone to scratch my back." Seeing a need and meeting it. Just seeing a need and meeting it. Making it that simple. If you have two shirts, and someone doesn't have one... don't complicate things. Just give them one of your shirts. Problem solved. It doesn't always have to be big and hard. Sometimes it's as easy as seeing a need and meeting it. Giving what you've got. Living out of your abundance. Looking past yourself, and seeing other people. Having empathy. Sympathy. Mercy. Grace. Forgiviness. Love!